


Mediator

by Renai_chan



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Foursome - M/M/M/M, M/M, Multi, minor feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-07 13:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3174672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renai_chan/pseuds/Renai_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony made a decision during a mission. It was the correct decision, and it saved lives, but that doesn't make Steve happy about it.</p>
<p>Luckily, Rhodey is here to make things all better. Like always.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mediator

**Author's Note:**

> So... uhh... yeeeeah... My first piece of writing in nearly a year. Nothing too heavy, just finishing up some old stuff I had on my computer to get back into writing. Ignore weird bits and typos; this isn't beta read and I didn't spend too much time on it, so yeah...
> 
> Based off of this kink meme: http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/4305.html?thread=2657745#t2657745 because I have the unfortunate tendency of smashing together as many plots, themes, kinks and characters (that I like) as I can.
> 
> _Steve/Rhodey/Bucky/Tony. I'd love any fic of them in a established relationship, but I'd love a fic where Steve and Bucky are mad at Tony for some reason, so he runs away to where ever Rhodey is stationed to get cuddles. And then Rhodey has to drag him back to make up with the others. Or maybe a fic where Rhodey feels lonely because his lovers are all together being Avengers and he's off with the Air Force. Or maybe just the four of them being all domestic._
> 
> _IDK, I just really crave some established OT4 with these lot._

When Rhodey sees him—his silhouette framed by the hangar entrance to be more specific—he immediately turns his back to him, accesses the nearest telephone in sight, and dials a number he’s called possibly an infinite number of times in the past year and a half.

“Rhodey, Rhodey, Rhodey, Rhodey!” Tony practically wails and then he’s draped all over Rhodey’s back and how the hell did he cross the hangar that fast? The telephone is being plucked out of his hand and being reset in its cradle even as Rhodey hears the faint “Hello” from the other side. He suppresses a sigh with great effort and turns around to face the shorter man, the nuzzling against his back resuming against his chest, barely missing a beat.

“What is it this time?” he asks. His long-suffering tone goes unheeded, as usual, given the number of times Tony’s heard it. He sees the genius’s pout as the other man draws back and crosses his arms over his chest.

“What makes you think it was me?” he asks petulantly and Rhodey arches an eyebrow. He doesn’t dignify that with a response because if Tony’s here, then of course it was him. “What? I can’t take a short trip to see my boyfriend who hasn’t been home in three months?”

“We’re in Tanzania, Tony,” he points out.

“Which is only a boat ride away from the Seychelles! Come on, Rhodey, I’m sure I can wheedle a few days of us-time out of your bosses.” Tony pouts some more, clearly unaware that that tactic has a 100% chance of failure. Rhodey’s known the man for over thirty years; he’s built up a solid immunity to it. “I even brought them new toys.” Rhodey finally gives into his sigh, pulls Tony into his arms and rests his chin on top of the messy black hair as he rubs circles on his best-friend-slash-boyfriend’s back. This makes Tony grumble about how ‘he’s not a child’ (for all he acts like one), which eventually turn into incoherent mumbles, and Rhodey filters out the stream of explanations and equations and other things that make sense to Tony alone until he hears it: mutterings about “Bucky” and “Steve” and “unfair” and “best option.” 

He decides then that even though he can guess with certain accuracy what this was all about, he will not get mad at Tony--whose fault it almost definitely was--because Tony flew halfway around the world to look for comfort instead of bullying Steve and Bucky into forgiving him.

“Babe, you’re gonna have to be quiet right now because if I hear about you blowing yourself up--again-- one more time, I will have an aneurysm,” he says instead, and Tony quiets. Rhodey suppresses another sigh as he brings up an old and overused lecture. “You have a team. You have seven people minimum watching your back, two of which are spies, two supersoldiers, one god, one genius, and Phil Fucking Coulson. You have got to stop doing everything by yourself.”

“It’s less a matter of me doing everything by myself than it is minimizing the damage to others,” Tony answers, a frown on his face, but just as Rhodey opens his mouth to argue, he’s already cut him off. “Not just the team, but also those bystanders too helpless or stupidly curious to run away.” Rhodey sobers and strokes his cheek.

“And I take it Steve and Bucky are pissed?” he asks instead. Tony shrugs. “Tony, I know it’s been you and me for the longest time and know that I am not taking their side over yours--in fact, let’s just state for the record that I am not taking sides at all--but they matter too. Their opinions and emotions are just as important to me as yours are, so don’t get me wrong when I tell you that if they’re pissed, I’m gonna think they have grounds to be so.” A flurry of emotions pass over Tony’s face, annoyance and sadness among them, but he only shrugged, so Rhodey sighed and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Well, in that case, Tones, I’m taking you right back home.”

…………… 

Rhodey will deny it to the death under oath, but to himself can admit that he positively jumps right out of his skin when a pair of arms slithers around his waist out of what he can only assume is the back wall of the empty elevator.

“Jesus Christ!” he swears even as his eyes slide shut and his head falls back against the shoulder one of the arms is attached to. “You are a soldier--no longer a spy-slash-assassin. Fucking stay that way. Please.” The chuckle that answers him is warm and dark and sends thrills up his spine.

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep, Rhodes,” Bucky answers and gives his ear a playful nip. Rhodey grins and turns his head for a slow, almost lazy kiss that lasts a few floors up.

“So how much damage control do I need to be doing?” he eventually asks against Bucky’s mouth. They part while Bucky adopts a mock-thoughtful expression.

“You remember that time Tony pantsed Clint on that talk show?” the former assassin returns, which only makes Rhodey groan.

“I am going to kill that idiot,” he growls, and again Bucky laughs before he takes his mouth in another kiss. “So what was it this time?” A head shake answered him.

“Noooo. I think I’m gonna let Steve tell you.”

“That is not reassuring,” Rhodey whacks him in the chest as the elevator opens onto the foyer. Clint and Thor are in the living room, methodically destroying one in the line of many, many gaming consoles Tony has bought for them over the years. Clint catches sight of him almost immediately and winces.

“Hey, Colonel,” he greets and then turns back to the game, visibly tenser than before up until Thor destroys him and crows in delight. After that, it’s mayhem and Rhodey and Bucky duck into the hallway before Natasha or--god forbid--Coulson finds them. After that, they encounter no others until they make their way to the master bedroom.

Steve is sitting at the desk in front of a laptop, poring over videos and documents of what Rhodey thinks is their latest mission. He knows the supersoldier hears him, but he walks up to him quietly anyway and strokes the line of his tense neck.

“That bad?” he asks while Steve gently folds the laptop closed, not because he had anything to hide, Rhodey knew, but because he always gave everyone his full attention, most of all Rhodey who they only got to see every few months and never quite enough. He twisted his chair around and pulled Rhodey into the vee of his legs.

“You come around too often to fix Tony’s mistakes and rarely ever just to come,” Steve answers, and Rhodey hears Bucky chuckle back what would have been a truly tasteless (but nonetheless true) joke.

“Yeah, well, you know as well as I do, Steve, that if I don’t come to fix Tony’s mistakes, I’d never get come at all,” he answers and leaves the innuendo for Bucky to laugh at. Steve, for all that he’s king of subtle innuendos (it helps that his flat, deadpan delivery is aided by his guileless looks), ignores it anyway and presses his forehead to Rhodey’s stomach with a sigh, so Rhodey strokes his hair in a calming, repetitive motion until Steve starts to speak again. 

“He took it out.” 

Rhodey’s hand freezes.

“What?” 

He tries not to freak out.

“He took the arc reactor out of his damn chest like it was nothing,” Steve grits out like he was chewing nails. “There was a bomb in the basement of the hospital, rigged to blow as soon as the power goes out--three minutes after we got there, two minutes after Tony gave up tryng to isolate it from the power supply. He told us to run to the power room because ‘they had to be controlling it there’ were his words, and I should have fucking known because he’d have gone there himself, not sent us. But we went anyway, and when our backs were turned, he pulled it out, hooked it up to the bomb and saved the day and nearly killed himself in the process!” Rhodey shuts his eyes and resumes the strokes in Steve’s hair, deliberately even and careful. Tony is alive; it’s done and over with. He’ll freak out later because right now? Steve needs him more.

“Shhh…” he murmurs.

“I held him while he was twisting in pain,” Steve continues. “And if Bruce hadn’t been there with a car battery in hand…”

“It’s fine now, Steve. He’s okay, we’re all okay. We can kill him later,” Rhodey teases, gentle still. Steve laughs a watery, tense laugh, so Rhodey presses a kiss to his hair and holds him until the tenseness in his shoulders disappears. “Come on,” he then says, tugging Steve up to his feet where he’s suddenly bent back with a kiss. He smiles when he’s let back up and brushes a lock of hair off Steve’s forehead. Then he gives a pointed look at Bucky before declaring in his normal stern voice, “Bed, both of you. I travelled 12,000 miles to do damage control, and I expect cuddles. Lots of them.”

“Just cuddles?” a voice calls from the doorway. Rhodey doesn’t bother looking in that direction.

“Cuddles from two of my most favorite people in the world who also, incidentally, do not try to kill me with random heart attacks,” he says loudly. Bucky stifles a laugh while Steve glares at Tony.

“Still not talking to you,” he reminds firmly, but Tony only grins, apologetic though it may be.

“But you are talking to me,” he points out as he sidles closer to them. Bucky’s arm darts out and catches Tony’s wrist, using that to drag him closer. He cradles Tony against his chest and walks him up to Steve.

“Come on, babe,” Bucky drawls. “Tony said he’s sorry.” Tony nods eagerly. “And if he’s not… well, we can make him.” Tony blinks at Bucky, then looks up at Steve.

“That,” he agrees. “I kinda like the sound of that.” Steve sighs heavily, rolling his eyes up the ceiling then back down to Rhodey.

“I was planning on making him wait it out a few more days, you know,” he tells the colonel.

“Which is why, come to think of it, he probably flew me in in the first place,” Rhodey points out. Steves levels a look at Tony.  
“Don’t do it again,” he warns, but Tony only hesitates.

“You know I can’t make that promise, Steve.” Steve’s silence is telling and a little bit angry, which is why Tony adds, “I really am sorry.” It doesn’t chase the silence away, but it isn’t too long before Steve sighs once more, shakes his head, and reluctantly gives a smile. Then he tells Tony:

“Okay, fine. Since Rhodey’s made the effort and all.” 

Then he adds with a mischievous smirk, “You better show him how much you appreciate it.” Tony laughs.

“Sir, yes, sir!”


End file.
